Bajada Mark A, Sanjosé-Orduna Jesús, Di Liberto Giovanni, Tosoni Sergio, Pacchioni Gianfranco, Noël Timothy, Vilé Gianvito
Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering "Giulio Natta", Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Flow Chemistry Group, van't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Chem Soc Rev. 2022 May 23;51(10):3898-3925. doi: 10.1039/d2cs00100d.
The global warming crisis has sparked a series of environmentally cautious trends in chemistry, allowing us to rethink the way we conduct our synthesis, and to incorporate more earth-abundant materials in our catalyst design. "Single-atom catalysis" has recently appeared on the catalytic spectrum, and has truly merged the benefits that homogeneous and heterogeneous analogues have to offer. Further still, the possibility to activate these catalysts by means of a suitable electric potential could pave the way for a true integration of diverse synthetic methodologies and renewable electricity. Despite their esteemed benefits, single-atom electrocatalysts are still limited to the energy sector (hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction, ) and numerous examples in the literature still invoke the use of precious metals (Pd, Pt, Ir, ). Additionally, batch electroreactors are employed, which limit the intensification of such processes. It is of paramount importance that the field continues to grow in a more sustainable direction, seeking new ventures into the space of organic electrosynthesis and flow electroreactor technologies. In this piece, we discuss some of the progress being made with earth abundant homogeneous and heterogeneous electrocatalysts and flow electrochemistry, within the context of organic electrosynthesis, and highlight the prospects of alternatively utilizing single-atom catalysts for such applications.
全球变暖危机引发了化学领域一系列注重环保的趋势，使我们得以重新思考合成方式，并在催化剂设计中纳入更多储量丰富的元素。“单原子催化”最近出现在催化领域，真正融合了均相和多相类似物的优点。此外，通过合适的电势激活这些催化剂的可能性，可能为各种合成方法与可再生电力的真正整合铺平道路。尽管单原子电催化剂有诸多优点，但仍局限于能源领域（析氢反应、氧还原反应等），而且文献中的众多实例仍使用贵金属（钯、铂、铱等）。此外，使用的是间歇式电化学反应器，这限制了此类过程的强化。至关重要的是，该领域要继续朝着更可持续的方向发展，探索有机电合成和流动电化学反应器技术领域的新方向。在本文中，我们将在有机电合成的背景下，讨论储量丰富的均相和多相电催化剂以及流动电化学方面取得的一些进展，并强调将单原子催化剂用于此类应用的前景。
